Of the Drath

Actually, the Drath tech tree was developed first and the game designers used the Drath tech tree for the Altarians. Nobody knows for certain, but it is believed (or at least suggested) that the Altarian tech tree be developed further. And its not just them, some races need more adjusting than others.

Parts of the Altarian tree only shows up if you choose good alignment.

Shouldn't that be "an alignment"? I know there are various different Thalan only ethnic techs for the 3 choices. I hadn't played the Alterians yet to know if all three choices had stuff.

Hmm, either way if the Altarian tech tree is just an expansion of the Drath one it would mean that neither are truely unique. At the moment I reckon they may be identical. I understand it's a work in progress but I was wondering if it was just me, or they hadn't been quite finished yet.

Well, the Drath & Alterians co-existed together on the same planet for generations. It's not odd to see they have a lot in common technology-wise.

Yes but the technology trees currently seem to be identical, I understand they should be similar, but not the same. I may be wrong, tell the truth I'd love to be corrected.

This isn't really a correction, but look at the differences between the Drengin and Korath. They basically have the same tree, with a few additions on the Korath side...

That's the difference you should probably expect with Altarian/Drath when all is said and done.

No. Altarians get some of the default good/evil/neutral techs (like weapons and defense), but they've had many of the alignment techs removed from their tree entirely, and they only get some unique techs if they choose good.



Because, of course, two races that developed on the same world and were subsequently separated for tens of thousands of years should be as similar as two races which were really the same race until the Dread Lords started messing with them last week? Because the Drath tech tree doesn't really fit into the description that Brad gave of Altarians having a few expensive units?

Hrm, that's disheartening. I know the issue of the pure racial techs being gone (Good vs Evil, etc..) from them and the Thalans, but I only hoped that the Alterians were along the same as the Thalans in regards to new racial-ethnic techs for ALL choices.

I suspect that all races are going to get unique ethical techs. It seems curious that only the two new races would have them...

I don't believe the Altarian tech tree is complete, but I could be wrong.

Maybe not, but the Drath and the Altarians do share a common feature: their ability to manipulate dark energy. Same as the Korath/Drengin share the feature of Slavery.



Nor does the Thalan tree match the goal of "multipurpose buildings" from before either.



I'm pretty sure I remember reading something to that effect somewhere. I'll have to see if I can't find it...

Altarians do not have the techs for the Drath political manipulation and war profiteering. Drath, and perhaps Altarians too I don't know, oddly do not get the Concepts of Malice when choosing evil so there are no Mind Control Centers. Drath do get Psyonic weapons when choosing evil. Not sure if Altarians get anything from choosing evil or not, but they do get the extra good techs like defenses. The Altarians never seem to do well in TA as an AI empire, and when I played them I did okay for a while (being a noob) but in the end the -20% weapons you start with was just too hard to overcome as other races started catching up on the research trees. Problem being that sure you can still get all the Way of the Arnor weapons bonuses but they are still applied against that starting -20% and it is just enough to keep you a bit behind. Or so it seemed to me. But I digress, sorry.

It does not 'look' complete so I hope so. Odd they would have Drath temples, although I admit if a 50 foot lizard asked my to worship it, I would likely agree.

I also hope this latest innovation of multiple ethic techs gets rolled back across all races.

Actually the Drath have some war profiteering and spy/manipulation tech. that the Altarians don't and the Alterians have better shield technology.

But yes the Dark matter/Engergy tech is present for both, that is totally in line with the background as both races come from the same planet and both have some natural ability to manipulate Dark Energy/Matter.

What worried me is that on the Altarian tech tree the 'Majesty' techs, as well as the Precursor history techs are all marked as unique, but when I played the Drath they showed up as regular techs.

A tech is considered unique if your Tech Tree is the only one that has it in that game, regardless if it shows up in other race's techs that aren't present in that game.

Sort of true. It's made clear that the Drath ability to manipulate dark energy is nowhere near the Altarian ability to manipulate dark energy, and that's beside the point because their tech trees are not dependent upon that ability, which makes it a flimsy justification for giving them very similar tech trees.

And it's fallacious to point to the Drengin and Korath trees as being similar because they both use slavery, since they're similar because they're the same race.

I've just checked out the two tech trees, and they have the same structure. The Altarians have 4 techs the Drath don't, three only being availiable if you choose a 'good' alignment. The Drath have two techs the Altarians don't, the 'Invisible Hand' and 'War Profiteering' techs. So they are pretty much exactly the same.

The question is are they set to remain that way?

I made another check, and I got the impression that the Drath and Altarian tech trees have more in common than the Dregin and the Korath.

Ouch.

I knew that the various tech trees differed to some degree, but I have only played Korath and Altarian, and never Drengin or Drath. I just looked at their tech trees.

I really do think that the Altarians could use more "difference" in their tree.

Is this where I demand an apology for you constantly arguing that I was wrong when I mentioned that the Drath and Altarian tech trees were nearly identical, when you admit you never even checked now?

Or maybe this could be where, after nearly 2 months....YOU LET IT GO!

Wrong - you said the Drath tech tree was the Altarian tech tree, and I checked then to see that they did differ. I didn't compare them entirely tech to tech, and I will point out that the war profiteering tech does give the Drath an economic advantage over the Altarians.

It also wasn't constant; I said twice that the tech trees were not identical.

That's all beside the point. You assumed that when I argued that the Altarian tech tree had flaws that I was implying that the Drath tech tree was fine, even though I never actually commented substantially on it. I only commented on the tech trees I've played - Yor, Thalan, Altarian, Terran, Iconian, Korath - and I've stuck to those to see how they've changed with subsequent patches.

So no, given that you accused me of being retarded, of being a moron, of having suffered brain damage, of arguing against changes just so I could point whore on the Metaverse just because I didn't agree with your pet changes to tech trading, I don't think I owe you the time of day, let alone an apology. Hell, I'm not even sure why I'm explaining any of this to you.

It's not an accusation if it's true.

I mean, hell, you insisted, INSISTED, that the inclusion of that option and the limitations as such would "cripple" the game, using your impenetrable point of the game is too hard for me. Despite the fact that I explained that generally still 95% of any given tech tree would still be able to be traded, you remained oblivious and stuck to your own little submission that the AI-exploited, abusable, broken tech trading system was flawless.

What do you expect me to call you? Intelligent? Sagacious? I don't know anybody that actually thinks the tech trading system DOESN'T suck, so I suspect you're a liar. You denied my idea on the principle that the game is "too hard" based on a race that has not been tested or even implemented completely. What am I supposed to think?

No, let me explain to you. I called you a retard because you vehemently denied my submission in an extremely long-winded and boring post about how one race is too hard for YOU without piling up on ridiculous, exploitable unique-tech benefits.

I alluded to you having some sort of mental trauma because you were fabricating laughably untrue "facts" about how certain races perform to support your point, and therefore, in your own words, were against changing tech trading to allow you to overcome these phantom weaknesses - weaknesses that, whether or not they exist, are implemented intentionally.

Yet the only way to overcome any weakness, like Torian research, is in your games, by getting the Discovery Spheres tech and combining it with your own +research% techs - and this behavior is perfectly acceptable to you - because Torians are probably too hard for you as well.

I see you as my inferior, and until you manage to stop sending little posts of concentrated idiocy, I suspect you will stay as such, and I'll simply treat you as one.

Correct me if I missed something here. If you can't, I suggest you get a god damn spine and at least try to fabricate a valid counterargument to restricted tech trading that isn't COMPLETELY asinine.